1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handover apparatus and a handover method in a wireless communication environment, and more particularly, to a handover apparatus and a handover method for performing a fast handover in an environment of various communication networks having a different communication standard.
2. Description of the Related Art
A 3 Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16, IEEE 802.11, and Bluetooth are wireless communication standards. A mobile node (MN) that uses various communication networks in an environment of various communication networks having a different communication standard is released. The MN includes a plurality of interfaces that support the various communication networks. When the MN moves from one network to another network, the MN selects an interface that supports a communication network at which the MN is now located.
When the MN changes an interface, the MN must perform a handover according to a change in the interface. However, as the number of subscribers to mobile communication services rapidly increases, and the mobile communication services become more diversified so that they can provide multimedia communications, the demand for seamless communications becomes stronger. Accordingly, the importance of a fast handover also becomes essential. Conventionally, the MN performs the handover in a state where the plurality of interfaces are enabled. Therefore, every interface should always be enabled in order to perform the handover.